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News About SuperpowersTue, 06 DEC 2016 03:34:57 AESTTue, 06 DEC 2016 03:34:57 AESTen-us
Washington (AFP) Dec 5, 2016 -
President-elect Donald Trump has fired off another Twitter broadside, attacking China over alleged currency manipulation and foreign policy, as the world waits to see who he will pick for the vital role of secretary of state.

Trump will have "a very full slate of meetings" on Monday as he looks to finalise key cabinet positions, senior aide Kellyanne Conway said Sunday.

America's friends and foes alike are keenly awaiting Trump's choice for the top diplomat role, hopeful that it will offer clues to the direction US policy will take after he is sworn in on January 20.

Based on Trump's Twitter activity on Sunday, relations with America's top trading partner may be headed for a downturn, with the businessman-turned-politician accusing Beijing of expansionism and of fiddling the exchange rate.

"Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?" he demanded, adding: "I don't think so!"

The taunt came two days after Trump provoked a rebuke from China by accepting a call from the president of Taiwan -- the first such call in around four decades.

China regards self-ruling Taiwan as part of its own territory awaiting reunification, and any US move implying support for independence is gravely offensive to Beijing.

Washington does not formally recognise Taipei, and officially cleaves to a "One China" policy that says Beijing is the legitimate government.

In practice, the island enjoys many of the trappings of a full diplomatic relationship with the US.

Trump's incoming vice president, Mike Pence, played down the call's significance, describing it as a courtesy, and said any new policy on China would be decided after his inauguration.

However, The Washington Post reported Sunday that the call had been in the works for weeks, intended to signal a major shift in US policies toward Taiwan and China. The article cited people involved in planning the call.

- Trade war threat -

China was a frequent target for Trump during his presidential campaign and every sign points to his taking an aggressive line.

US politicians often accuse China of artificially depressing its currency, the renminbi, in order to boost its exports -- its value has fallen by around 15 percent in the past two-and-half years.

Trump has vowed to declare China a "currency manipulator" on the first day of his presidency, which would oblige the US Treasury to open negotiations with Beijing on the renminbi.

With China holding about a trillion dollars in US government debt, Washington would have little leverage in such talks, but the declaration would harm ties and boost the prospect of a trade war.

It is not yet clear whether Trump intends to recruit someone with greater diplomatic experience for the State Department role, but he has run the rule over several high-profile candidates.

Four names have been in circulation for weeks: former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and retired army general and ex-CIA chief David Petraeus.

But now more suggestions have begun to emerge.

"It is true that he's broadened the search," Conway told reporters at Trump Tower in New York.

Trump's former campaign manager said the eventual nominee must be ready to "implement and adhere to the president-elect's America First foreign policy, if you will, his view of the world."

Former Utah governor and ambassador to Beijing Jon Huntsman is also in the mix, according to CNN, while other reports said Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson and Republican Senator Bob Corker are under consideration.

"That list is expanding because... there is not a finite list of finalists," Conway said.

- Petraeus is keen -

Petraeus, who resigned in disgrace as head of the CIA in 2012 after he was caught sharing secrets with his mistress, said he has paid for his mistakes and is ready to work for Trump.

The 64-year-old scholar-warrior, who led the widely-praised "surge" in Iraq from 2008 to 2010, has a depth of experience in world affairs unmatched by the other known candidates.

He pleaded guilty in 2015 to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified materials after sharing Afghan war logs with his lover. He was put on two years' probation and fined $100,000.

Pence praised Petraeus as "an American hero" on NBC's "Meet the Press," adding that he "made mistakes and he paid for his mistakes."

Trump, he added, "will factor the totality of general Petraeus's career in making this decision."

The taunt came two days after Trump risked offending Beijing by accepting a call from the Taiwanese president, and heralded the prospect of a trade battle between the world's largest economies.

China was a frequent target of Trump's during his presidential campaign and, as he prepares to take office next month, every sign points to his taking an aggressive line with Beijing.

"Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency (making it hard for our companies to compete), heavily tax our products going into their country (the US doesn't tax them) or to build a massive military complex in the middle of the South China Sea?" he demanded, adding: "I don't think so!"

China is the United States' largest trading partner, but America ran a $366 billion deficit with Beijing in goods and services in 2015, up 6.6 percent on the year before.

US politicians often accuse China of artificially depressing its currency, the renminbi, in order to boost its exports -- its value has fallen by around 15 percent in the past two-and-half years.

Trump has vowed to formally declare China a "currency manipulator" on the first day of his presidency, which would oblige the US Treasury to open negotiations with Beijing on allowing the renminbi to rise.

With China holding about a trillion dollars in US government debt, Washington would have little leverage in such talks, but the declaration would harm ties and boost the prospect of a trade war.

China charges an average 15.6 percent tariff on US agricultural imports and nine percent on other goods, according to the World Trade Organization.

Chinese farm products pay 4.4 percent and other goods 3.6 percent when coming into the United States.

On Friday, Trump courted Chinese anger by accepting a congratulatory call from Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen.

China regards self-ruling Taiwan as part of its own territory awaiting reunification, and any US move implying support for independence would gravely offend Beijing.

Trump's incoming vice president, Mike Pence, played down the significance of the call, describing it as a courtesy, and said any new policy on China would be decided after his inauguration.

China responded cautiously to the call, with state media putting it down to Trump's "inexperience."

Why was the single phone call the source of such concern? Here are the key issues surrounding the delicate relations between the United States, China and Taiwan.

- Bitter history -

The deep rift between China and Taiwan dates back to China's civil war, which erupted in 1927 and pitted forces aligned with the Communist Party of China against the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) army.

Eventually defeated by Mao Zedong's Communists, KMT chief Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, which was still under KMT control.

From there, Chiang continued to claim the entirety of China -- just as the mainland claimed Taiwan.

Taiwan's full name remains the Republic of China, while the mainland is the People's Republic of China.

Both sides still formally claim to represent all of China.

- Why the fuss? -

Washington cut formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, switching recognition to Beijing as the sole representative of China, and no US president or president-elect is believed to have spoken to a Taiwanese leader since then.

But the United States has maintained an ambiguous and at times contradictory approach to Taiwan.

On the one hand, America sells high-end weaponry to Taiwan, but it does not formally recognize Tsai, the country's president, as a sovereign leader.

The policy is designed to provide democratic Taiwan with enough military clout to fend off China's vastly bigger armed forces and preserve peace in the region.

Many observers saw the phone call, initiated by Tsai, as a possible shift in long-standing US policy.

China regards self-ruling Taiwan as part of its own territory awaiting reunification under Beijing's rule, and any US move implying support for independence -- even calling Tsai "president," as Trump did in a tweet announcing the call -- prompts grave offense in China.

It is also possible that Trump, a political novice and a newcomer to the international stage, didn't appreciate the ramifications of the call.

But The Washington Post, citing people involved in planning the call, said it was a deliberate move by the president-elect to strike a new tone, and was months in the making.

- 'One China' policy -

In 1992, Taiwan and mainland China both agreed that there is only "one China," covering both places, but they agreed to disagree about what that precisely meant.

Most countries have chosen Beijing, while also maintaining some ties, if nominally unofficial, to Taipei.

Washington does not formally recognize Taipei, and officially sticks to a the one-China policy that says Beijing is the legitimate government of all of China.

But in practice, the small island enjoys many of the trappings of a full diplomatic relationship with the United States.

While there is no US embassy in Taipei, Washington runs a nonprofit center called the American Institute in Taiwan, which serves as something of an unofficial consulate.

Many people in Taiwan today remain distrustful of Beijing while others are keen to explore warmer relations, especially when it comes to trade opportunities.

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Tue, 06 DEC 2016 03:34:57 AEST
Washington (AFP) Dec 3, 2016 -
Amid an outpouring of condemnation over President-elect Donald Trump's telephone conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, some prominent US conservatives are commending his decision to take her call.

Trump's conversation with Tsai on Friday broke decades of US diplomatic policy, risking a serious rift with China by calling into question one of Beijing's self-described "core interests" -- the "One China" policy to which then-president Richard Nixon agreed in 1978.

No US president or president-elect has spoken to a Taiwanese leader since then. Some US conservatives however see no evil in the Friday call.

"I would much rather have Donald Trump talking to President Tsai than to Cuba's Raul Castro or Iran's Hasan Rouhani," Texas Senator Ted Cruz -- Trump's main challenger and a fierce critic during this year's Republican primary race -- tweeted on Saturday. "This is an improvement."

President Barack Obama has spoken with Rouhani by phone, and met Castro on a trip to Cuba.

Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman under former president George W. Bush, didn't think that accepting the call was a bad idea.

"China has been increasingly aggressive with us because they know we won't do anything meaningful about it," Fleischer tweeted. "I don't mind Trump pushing back."

China regards self-ruling Taiwan as part of its own territory awaiting reunification under Beijing's rule, and any US move implying support for independence -- even calling Tsai "president," as Trump did in a tweet announcing the call -- prompts grave offense in China.

- Foreign policy pivot? -

But some critics thought that Trump had crossed a dangerous line.

"What has happened in the last 48 hours is not a shift. These are major pivots in foreign policy w/out any plan. That's how wars start," tweeted Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

Senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway brushed aside the criticism, insisting that the call did not necessarily indicate a change of policy.

"Senator Murphy's tweet is pretty incendiary," she told CNN late Friday. "This is how wars are starting and it is a major policy shift because you get a phone call? That is pretty negative."

Asked whether Trump's decision to take Tsai's call was the result of a mistake by an inexperienced staff, she said the real estate billionaire was fully aware of the implications.

Trump's other defenders included Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton.

"I commend President-elect Trump for his conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen, which reaffirms our commitment to the only democracy on Chinese soil," he said in a statement.

Trump received criticism on another matter from an unexpected source on Friday: the outspoken former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who strongly supported him during his campaign.

A favorite of the powerful far-right Tea Party movement, Palin condemned Trump's deal with the Carrier air conditioner company this week to keep 1,100 jobs in Indiana instead of shipping hundreds to Mexico, in return for what the company said would be a $7 million tax-break package from the state.

"When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent," Palin wrote on the website Young Conservatives.

"We support competition on a level playing field, remember? Because we know special interest crony capitalism is one big fail."

Trump's transition team is believed to be considering Palin, a former Republican candidate for vice president, for a cabinet position.

During his presidential campaign, the Republican billionaire repeatedly threatened to slap tariffs on firms that decamped for Mexico, Asia and other regions with cheaper labor costs.

On Friday, Trump singled out another industrial company, tweeting, "Rexnord of Indiana is moving to Mexico and rather viciously firing all of its 300 workers. This is happening all over our country. No more!"

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Tue, 06 DEC 2016 03:34:57 AEST
Washington (AFP) Dec 2, 2016 -
How will President-elect Donald Trump's pick for defense secretary, retired Marine general James Mattis, steer America's largest bureaucracy and the world's biggest war machine through what likely will be turbulent years to come?

Here are six of the most pressing issues that will land on Mattis's plate if he is confirmed:

- Iran -

Mattis is hawkish on Iran and has publicly called it the "single most belligerent actor in the Middle East."

The former Marine general, who commanded a division during the invasion of Iraq, has blamed the deaths of some US troops on Iranian support for Shiite militias in Anbar province.

And Mattis has accused Tehran of continuing to finance extremist networks that are destabilizing the Middle East.

Trump has slammed the Iran nuclear deal, and Mattis has also challenged it.

He has said the White House isn't doing enough to counter Iranian military moves in the region -- and is likely to push for a hard line against the Islamic Republic.

- Defeating the Islamic State group -

During the campaign, Trump said he would "bomb the shit" out of the IS group, pledged to kill the relatives of suspected terrorists and to torture captives.

Mattis, however, has told Trump that he doesn't agree and the president-elect has seemed to cool on his torture pledge.

Mattis may struggle to come up with an anti-IS plan that diverges massively from the one already being pursued by the Obama administration -- namely, to bomb IS targets and train and equip local forces to kill the jihadists.

We will "pursue aggressive joint and coalition military operations to crush and destroy" IS, Trump said in his foreign policy statement.

Trump last year suggested sending US troops into the region to snatch oil fields, but his public plan does not mention this.

- Military spending boom? -

The US military is by far the world's most powerful and most expensive -- with bases spanning the globe, an annual budget of more than $600 billion and about 1.3 million active-duty troops.

China is the world's second biggest defense spender, but with an annual budget that is about a quarter the size.

Trump said Thursday that his administration "will begin a major national effort to rebuild our badly depleted military." He wants more ships, troops, planes and weaponry.

Mattis would oversee a surge in active troop numbers, with the Army growing to 540,000 under Trump's pledges (up from the current planned number of 450,000) and an increase of ships and submarines to 350 (up from 308).

Trump also wants more warplanes and a "state of the art" missile defense system. US arms firms have seen stock prices surge amid a broader market rally.

But Trump's plans to boost spending would require Congressional approval.

- Demanding more from allies -

During his campaign, Trump accused NATO members and Asian allies of not paying their fair share to long-standing alliances underpinning regional security.

But since his election, Trump has dialed back some of this rhetoric.

A first order of business for Mattis would be to clarify with allies just what the new administration's position is.

The United States maintains hundreds of bases and military sites around the world and currently has more than 200,000 military personnel deployed across dozens of nations, including 28,500 in South Korea and about 50,000 in Japan.

- Afghanistan -

Fifteen years and hundreds of billions of dollars since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the security situation in the country remains fraught and Afghan security forces are struggling to contain a resurgent Taliban.

President Barack Obama was forced to slow a planned withdrawal of US troops, and about 8,400 will remain in the country when he leaves office.

Afghanistan got scarcely a mention during the campaign, but Trump on Thursday indicated a reluctance to intervene overseas.

"We will stop looking to topple regimes and overthrow governments, folks," he said. "Our goal is stability, not chaos."

Mattis, who has led troops in Afghanistan, had criticized Obama's plan to pull forces from the country.

- Russia -

Trump has openly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin's leadership abilities and was accused by his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton of being a "puppet" for America's longtime foe.

Russia has seized Crimea, carried out military exercises on its border with Eastern Europe and has for more than a year conducted an intense bombing campaign in Syria to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.

It remains to be seen whether Trump could ask Mattis to find ways to better coordinate with Russia in Syria or elsewhere, an idea once unthinkable for the US military.

The two-day military drills near the Black Sea peninsula are a first for the former Soviet republic and a sign that it is regaining assertiveness in the face of its arch-foe Russia.

"No one will stop us," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko tweeted.

"We will be acting in the interests of the people of Ukraine!"

Kiev says Russia illegally annexed Crimea in March 2014 --- a month after Ukraine's Russian-backed president was ousted in a pro-EU revolt.

It also accuses Moscow of backing a 31-month pro-Russian insurgency in Ukraine's industrial east in a conflict that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives.

A Ukrainian military spokesman told the 112.ua Ukraine news site that Kiev was not violating international laws.

"The launches have started. Everything is going according to plan," Volodymyr Kryzhanovskiy was quoted as saying.

He said the war games included air defence units as well military drones and S-300 ground-to-air missile systems.

Kryzhanovskiy added that none of the missiles would land closer than 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Crimea.

Ukrainian media was full of speculation on Wednesday that Russia intended to shoot down the Ukrainian missiles once the tests began.

Ukrainian foreign ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa told the Ukrainska Pravda website that Kiev had received several "notes and letters from the Russian foreign and defence ministries" protesting the drills.

Moscow's messages stressed that the "tests supposedly violate the sovereignty of Russia and international law," Betsa was quoted as saying.

The Kremlin did not initially confirm sending warning messages.

But spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Thursday's online edition of the Vedomosti daily that Russia would indeed shoot down the missiles if it felt threatened.

Peskov said the tests could "create dangerous conditions for international flights crossing the territory of Russia and neighbouring regions".

An unnamed source in the Crimean military told Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency that his region's anti-missile systems had been put on a heightened state of alert.

Ukraine's national security council chief warned on Wednesday that such intimidation would not work.

"Threats to use weapons against Ukraine are an effort to turn the hybrid war that Russia has been waging against us for the past three years into an active war," Oleksandr Turchynov said.

The second set of tests are due to last for two hours on Friday.

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Tue, 06 DEC 2016 03:34:57 AEST
Kiev (AFP) Nov 30, 2016 -
Ukraine ratcheted up tensions with Moscow on Wednesday by warning the Kremlin its army intended to hold two days of missile-launching exercises near the border with Russian-annexed Crimea.

The tests set for Thursday would almost certainly further damage relations between two former Soviet neighbours that treat each other as open foes.

Such exercises near the Crimean peninsula would be a first for Ukraine and it was not immediately clear what sparked their preparation.

Ukraine also failed to say whether the tests would involve specific targets or if the missiles would only be fired into the air.

They come after Moscow last week arrested an alleged spy for the Ukrainian military in Crimea and accused Kiev of abducting two Russian servicemen from the region.

Kiev's media was full of speculation that Russia intended to shoot down the Ukrainian missiles once the tests begin.

Ukraine's national security council chief warned that such threats would not work.

"Threats to use weapons against Ukraine are an effort to turn the hybrid war that Russia has been waging against us for the past three years into an active war," Oleksandr Turchynov said in a statement released to reporters.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin's official spokesman kept to a more cautious line.

"The Kremlin would not like to see any sorts of actions from Ukraine that contradict international law," Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

He added that the tests could "create dangerous conditions for international flights crossing the territory of Russia and neighbouring regions".

Trump shocked long-time NATO allies in Europe when he suggested on the campaign trail be would think twice about coming to their aid if they had not paid their defence dues.

That prospect, combined with the Ukraine and migrant crises plus nuclear-armed Britain's shock vote to quit the European Union, have moved security sharply up the bloc's agenda.

"If Europe does not take care of its own security, nobody else will do it for us," European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement as the plans were announced.

"A strong, competitive and innovative defence industrial base is what will give us strategic autonomy," said Juncker, who has long pushed for a more active EU military role and ultimately what he calls a "European Army".

To stand on its own two feet, the EU "must invest in the common development of technologies and equipment of strategic importance -- from land, air, sea and space capabilities to cyber security," he said.

EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said this was not about the bloc striking out on its own given the doubts raised by a Trump presidency, or about it stepping on NATO's toes.

"We are not talking about a European headquarters here ... about a European army," Mogherini told reporters.

"It is about streamlining what we have to make EU defence work better ... it is not about competition or duplication," she said, adding that all member states were "fully on board" in support of the plans.

Some 22 of the EU's 28 member states also belong to NATO and several of them, led by Britain, oppose any measure which they fear could undermine the US-led alliance.

- Defence 'single market' -

What is known as the European Defence Action Plan targets more efficient defence spending and increased joint research and procurement.

It proposes increasing the current 25 million euros ($27 million) allocated to defence research in the overall EU budget to 90 million euros by 2020, when it should be replaced by a dedicated programme worth 500 million annually.

Another fund, potentially worth five billion euros per year, would help member states acquire military assets jointly to reduce the cost, the statement said, citing as examples drones or helicopters.

EU Commissioner for Jobs and Growth Jyrki Katainen stressed that this five billion euros was not new spending and not EU money -- it would simply be up to member states to band together as and when they wanted to procure new equipment.

The overall programme is meant to strengthen what the statement said was the "Single Market for Defence" -- putting it on a par with the EU's other single markets which aim to break down national barriers, be it in telecoms or energy.

The Commission proposals will now be discussed by member states before going up to an EU leaders' summit in December set to be dominated by concerns over what tack Trump will take as president.

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Tue, 06 DEC 2016 03:34:57 AEST
Manila (AFP) Nov 29, 2016 -
Seven military bodyguards of President Rodrigo Duterte and two other soldiers were wounded Tuesday in an ambush by suspected Islamic militants on the eve of his planned visit to the southern Philippines, the military and president said.

Military spokesmen said a bomb hit the soldiers' convoy as it drove on a road in a southern region where an armed group which had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group operated, wounding nine.

"My advance party was ambushed a while ago. The Presidential Security Group was hit by an IED (improvised explosive device)," Duterte said in a speech during a visit to a northern Philippines military camp.

"But I'm going there. The advice was to postpone it (the trip), but I said no. We are taking the same route if possible," Duterte added without explaining the purpose of his trip.

The convoy that was attacked in Marawi city also included local troops as well as staff members of the presidential communications office, though no civilians were hurt, military officials said.

The planned Duterte visit came days after the military began operations against dozens of armed members of the Maute group holed up in an abandoned government building in the mainly Muslim rural town of Butig on Mindanao island.

Butig is about 800 kilometres (500 miles) south of Manila, and an hour-long drive from Marawi.

Fifteen soldiers were injured in the fighting while 35 militants were killed, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla told AFP.

The ambush came a day after the police said the Maute group left a bomb near the US embassy in Manila which authorities later safely exploded.

The Maute gang was also blamed for a bombing in Duterte's home town in the southern city of Davao in September that killed 15 people.

Padilla said it was likely the Maute group was behind Tuesday's ambush.

"We know their supporters are surrounding the area and possibly planted bombs on the side of the roads to disrupt the movement of troop reinforcements," Padilla said.

Muslim groups have waged a decades-long armed independence struggle in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines that is believed to have claimed more than 120,000 lives.

On Monday, Duterte said IS, which controlled vast swathes of Iraq and Syria, had linked up with the Maute gang, a departure from previous military denials of formal links between IS and local extremist groups.

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Tue, 06 DEC 2016 03:34:57 AEST
Washington (AFP) Nov 27, 2016 -
After disbelief, anger and grief, the US tech sector is looking to come to grips with the presidency of a man described by many of its leading lights as a "disaster" for innovation.

The major US technology companies, almost uniformly opposed to Donald Trump's candidacy, saw huge stock declines in the wake of November 8, but most have now rebounded to near their pre-election levels.

Some observers are saying it makes little difference who is in the White House, and others argue Trump is unlikely to carry out the promises -- and threats -- he made during a bitter campaign.

Trump sent shivers through Silicon Valley during his election bid by pledging to squeeze trade from China, clamp down on immigration which is critical to many tech firms, and even warning that online giant Amazon could have "a huge antitrust problem" if he were elected.

Close to 150 tech icons -- including founders of Apple, Wikipedia and Reddit -- penned an open letter in July warning the Republican nominee would be an "disaster for innovation."

Gene Munster, analyst on the tech sector at Piper Jaffray, said the initial beating in tech shares had created a "rare opportunity to buy the fear."

But in a research note last week Munster argued that "the tech industry is in more control of its own destiny than Donald Trump and will work through these problems."

The analyst said an antitrust probe of Amazon was unlikely, nor does he expect major changes on skilled immigration under Trump.

Any tariffs on electronics or components could potentially impact firms like Apple, but would be spread equally over manufacturers because they all rely on imports, Munster noted.

- 'Smart businesspeople' -

In the meantime, any negative impact could be offset by Trump's pledge to lower taxes on capital repatriated from overseas, which could be a boon for Apple, Google and others and encourage investment in the US, analysts noted.

The tech sector holds the lion's share of an estimated $2.5 trillion held by US firms overseas.

"There could be a lot of money that is repatriated by tech companies," said Bob O'Donnell, analyst and consultant at Technalysis Research in Silicon Valley.

"If they could use it for job creation, that could be interesting."

More broadly, O'Donnell said the tech sector may get "a fresh look at the kinds of services and technologies that people want to invest in" under Trump.

For example, a major push on infrastructure investment "could be a big opportunity" to integrate "smart" technology for services such as transportation.

While tech leaders "did a lot of soul searching" after the election, O'Donnell said that "they are smart businesspeople and they realize they have to work in this new environment."

- A new tack -

Although Trump has said little about his agenda for the sector, O'Donnell noted that "tech is a huge part of the economy and you can't ignore it; but things that might be viewed as special privileges might be taken away."

Some are concerned that a Republican administration may seek to roll back so-called "net neutrality" that prohibits broadband firms from playing favorites, which could mean difficulties for online video operators like Netflix and Amazon.

Many tech leaders have had to take a new tack after an emotional campaign that featured ugly rhetoric on both sides.

Tech leaders clashed with Trump during the campaign on issues ranging from law enforcement surveillance to immigration to gay rights.

Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a memo to staff that the company's "North Star hasn't changed" and that "the only way to move forward is to move forward together," according to the Wall Street Journal.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg brushed off the vote by telling a tech conference that "most progress... is made by private citizens," and that "it would not be right to say (the election of Trump) changes the fundamental arc of technology or progress over time."

- 'That's us now' -

Others were less diplomatic.

Box founder Aaron Levie tweeted after the election, "You know those times where we watch other countries and are like "oh man you guys are crazy". Shit that's us now."

Tech investor Anil Dash wrote on Twitter: "I am not moving to Canada, not surprised by white supremacists & misogynists, and not afraid of Donald Trump. We have got to get to work."

Charlie O'Donnell at the investment firm Brooklyn Bridge Ventures said it's not time to panic.

"If you felt good about what you were doing at your company yesterday, you should feel good about it today," he said in a blog.

But he also said the election offers a lesson that "we need to start caring about a much wider tent of people than we have been."

Meanwhile Dex Torricke-Barton, a former Facebook and Google executive, quit his job at SpaceX to work for social causes after news of the Trump election.

"As an immigrant and the son of a refugee, and as someone dedicated to advancing the interests of humanity, I don't want to watch while the world slips backwards," Torricke-Barton said on Facebook.

"So I'm choosing to go and make whatever contribution I can -- no matter how small -- toward making the change we need: standing up for openness, compassion and sound global leadership."